I've been posting my workouts over at W8, but decided since I'm not on W8 any longer (since mid-November), and am more focused on fitness and exercise and healthy eating, I'll start my own little fitness diary here.

Here's a link to my previous posts:
http://www.minimins.com/w8/65063-exercise-challenge.html

Hope nobody minds! Feel free to come in and have a visit and a sweat!

 

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Well, to start off, I'll summarize a bit. I'm retired USAF (United States Air Force) and was pretty fit for many years, but retired a few years ago and moved to UK and was eating lots of crap and not exercising at all and gained a lot of weight. Got fed up with it fairly fast, and have managed to get my weight back down where it should be. I quit smoking a few years ago as well, and with the constant exercise, my cardio health had improved a great amount.

I went to FitFarms end of November, and it was a real revelation. I have been exercising all along, but wasn't getting the best "bang for the buck" out of it. At FitFarms, we did cardio and strength at least 6 hours per day; I actually kept up better than about 70% of the other women there, and was the oldest! I gained some muscle in that week and lost 4% of my body fat (amazing!), and really learned about intensifying my workouts. So I'm really working on keeping intensity fairly high, and getting more muscle built (difficult when you're in your 50s).

I belong to the local JJB (5 mins away), and my normal routine is to go Mon through Friday, early morning (0630ish) if possible, for at least 60 mins of cardio daily and then 30 mins or so of weights 4x per week, splitting it 2x lower body and 2x upper body.

Here's my recent updates:
Sat - 75 mins cardio (sweating like mad!), 30 mins lower body weights
Sun - 60 mins cardio
Mon - 70 mins cardio, 25 mins upper body weights

My cardio consists of various machines; I prefer the stepper, elliptical, treadmill. This morning, for instance, I did 25 mins on elliptical at 10, 30 mins on stepper at 8-10, and 15 mins on treadmill. I keep the intensity high so I'm on upper part of my target heart rate, and breathing fairly heavy...and sweating buckets!

 

I think I'll just add to a weekly summary to keep track without making a mess of the thread.

Sat - 75 mins cardio (sweating like mad!), 30 mins lower body weights
Sun - 60 mins cardio
Mon - 70 mins cardio, 25 mins upper body weights
Tues - 65 mins cardio
Wed - 65 mins cardio, 30 mins lower body weights

BTW...I also do about 15 mins or so of stretching after my cardio/weights, this is a routine, daily thing.

Taking a couple days off to relax...then back to it!

 

If anyone is interested in FitFarms, here's the post I did on my week there over in the W8 forum:

http://www.minimins.com/w8/68395-my-week-fitfarms.html

 

Sooo....hope everyone had a nice New Year's celebration. We spent the evening at a small party with friends, it was really nice. I only had a couple of drinks, but we were there late so I caught up on a lot of sleep on the 1st! Felt good to wear skinny black jeans and black jumper, heh heh!

 

Feel like I'm just talking to myself here...oh well. :wave_cry:

Started back today, had some bread the past 2 days so figured a bit of extra cardio was in order.

Sat - 100 mins (plus a bit) cardio (1 hr on stepper, 20 mins on xtrainer, 20 mins on treadmill)
Sun - 80 mins cardio (30 stepper, 20 xtrainer, 20 treadmill), 30 mins lower body weights
Mon - 60+ mins cardio, 30 mins upper body weights
Tues - day off
Wed - 65 mins cardio
Thurs - 65 mins cardio, 30 mins lower body weights
Fri - 60 mins cardio, 30 mins upper body weights

 

My hubby and I spent NYEve with family and friends, and I had some discussion with his brother. His brother is obese, drinks tons of beer, eats pretty unhealthily as well (huge quantities, lots of white bread, fried potatoes, bacon, etc), and his only activity is playing golf 1x per week. He walks the course, but has the type of golf cart that you don't push or pull, it has a little motor! He's got cholesterol issues, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure...well, you get the picture.

I asked him if he was going to make any resolutions for 2009, and he said (as he slurped down a large glass of beer) he wanted to lose at least 4 stone. I asked if he wanted to start coming to the gym with me, and what he was going to do. He said he needed to cut down the drinking and eating. We chatted about it for a while, but just from listening to him, I thought to myself, I'd be shocked if he followed through at all.

So I suppose I'm wondering to myself what motivates me, and what motivates others of us who decide to get a grip back on our health and fitness (and I include weight in that). I was fairly fit and healthy and then my brain caught up and I quit smoking for good, and after fighting back my laziness weight gain, I really feel like I have got to keep on top of myself to continue feeling good physically and mentally. What motivates you to get the Wii out every day and do some activities on it, or go out running or walking, or go to the gym?

 

No interest generated by that...so back to my log.

Sun - 75 mins cardio
Mon - 60 mins cardio
Tues - 65 mins cardio (not enough time for weights at gym)
Wed - day off! (sent husband to Scotland to go fishing, yay!)
Thurs - 65 mins cardio, 30 mins lower body weights
Fri - 65 mins cardio (went later than normal, all machines being used...grrr)

 

Hi, LS! Thanks for the note, I kept seeing my diary was getting views but no discussion or anything. Kinda lonely!

 

:8855:

Yeah, I do start to think I'm 'talking' to myself, sometimes! The Fitness thread in W8 was a lot more interactive. But it's a good way to keep track and be a bit accountable, that's for sure. I suppose I treat it a bit like a blog, too.

 

What a morning!

75 mins cardio, 30 mins upper body weights, then 45 mins step class (with 15 mins abs).

I really earned my breakfast today!

 

I'm still feeling a bit knackered from yesterday, I really pushed myself hard, so I'm taking a break today. I did 6 days in the last week, so not feeling naughty. I"m trying, actually, to get the rest of the Xmas decoration stuff put away. It's such a hassle to do, and OH doesn't help at all. He's back from his fishing trip (stinking up the downstairs with frigging cigarette smoke....:jelous but is golfing this morning, so some peace and quiet. May go do a grocery shop @ 10.

 

Finally uploaded a few pix (before and during), just visit my photo album.

 

Back in the saddle again...

Mon - 60 mins cardio, 30 mins lower body weights

 

Whew!

To celebrate the inauguration today (I'm American), had a ball at the gym!

70 mins cardio (10 mins of which were tough intervals on xtrainer), then took 60 min step class. Figured I def burned a bunch of calories!

 

Very sore knee today, I think from doing the step class after all the cardio/intervals, so did a real easy low cardio DVD at home. Back to the gym tomorrow.

 

Dug out knee support for today's workout...

65 mins cardio, 30 mins upper body weights and then my stretching. Have a sore knot in my right calf, massage yesterday didn't really sort it, so tried the power plate for stretching.

 

Sweaty one today!

40 mins cardio, then 45 mins step class. :superwoman:

 

I've decided to take things in hand as i don't want to be old before my time.
I've got a young family, but realised after last Christmas (2007) that i was just too big. I jumped on the scales and I was 100 kilos (220)
I dropped down to 88.5 with a healthy diet and exercise and I felt much better but still wanted to lose a bit more. I then managed to put a good bit back on and have got up to about 94 kilos.

My real journey is just about to start.

This isn't a diet for me, it's a new way of life.

 

Well, glad to hear that, Rennes. You might want to start a diary thread to keep track of your workouts and diet.